Thank You Craig (and your little list, too)

I hosted book club at my house tonight. Our book club meetings are always a highlight of my month. I am constantly amazed by the awesome group of girls that form this club. I am awed by the intelligence, the sense of humor, the vivaciousness and the openness of these women. I am so privileged to be a part of this. I LOVE BOOK CLUB!

The book club started three years ago with a posting on Craigslist. The girl that started the group only stayed with it for three or four months. I think she might have been intimidated by the ease in which the rest of us fell so quickly into a comfort level of friendship that surpassed the boundaries she had set for herself and her club. After her departure, the rest of us kept meeting and something truly wonderful was created. Random people answering a random posting brought us all together. Since then, these girls have become true friends to me and to each other. When a couple of our lovely ladies moved away, another Craigslist posting brought us some new members and thus, new friends. I love Craig and his list, for without him and his list, I would never have met this spectacular group.

I am feeling bittersweet right now since two more of the core, original group are moving away from us. We are going to miss Lili and Grace with all the power of our book-reading souls. Texas and California will be much better places very soon.

To keep up my spirits, I will now list all the other good things that Craig and his list have given to me:

1) Georgie - I was looking for a doggie friend for Frankie and she was "free to good home"
2) Income - my roommates and my rental house tenants always come from Craigslist
3) Friendships - a few of my roommates (Punit and Laura - I'm looking at you here) have become great and lasting friends
4) A hockey goalie - he posted on Craigslist, we needed a goalie, we were lucky to get him.
5) Furniture - both bought and sold
6) A paying gig as Curious George - a very fun opportunity that proved I WOULD make a great mascot!

Time for a confession here:
7) A second book club (this is a test to see which of my original book club girls read my blog. I meant to confess about my infidelity at tonight's book club meeting, but the conversation never went in that direction). Since Craig and his list brought together such a wonderful group of ladies, I tried to replicate the magic with a co-ed book club. There certainly was some magic as this book club brought us a guy actually named Craig - though I'm pretty sure he is not the namesake of Craigslist. This co-ed group is also wonderful, though it lacks the history that brings me to the pinnacle of adoration I feel for my original book club.

So, thank you Craig (and your little list, too)! You are kind of like Santa Claus. May you continue to bring joy to all!